


of fate and plaits

by tara_stofse



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Braids, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hair Braiding, Post-Season/Series 03, established phrack (implied), slightly older Jane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29676786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tara_stofse/pseuds/tara_stofse
Summary: Jane needs help with her hair, and Jack contemplates (or contemplaits) fate and family.
Relationships: Jack Robinson & Jane Ross
Comments: 20
Kudos: 57





	of fate and plaits

“Morning, Mr. B! Morning, Inspector!”

Jane stormed into the kitchen in a charming-freight-train manner not unlike Phryne’s, and Jack hid his smile behind his newspaper at the similarity.

Mr. Butler turned away from the stove and wiped his hands on his apron. “Good morning, Jane! Would you like some breakfast?”

“No thank you, Mr. Butler, I’m running a bit late!” She grabbed a slice of toast from the plate on the table and Jack noticed that she held a comb in her other hand. She was dressed for university but her hair was still loose, wafting after her like a curtain as she moved about in the kitchen.

Not for the first time, Jack realised how much she had grown up. Jane had returned from Europe a couple of weeks ago to start her studies and had moved back into her room at Wardlow.

He’d told her that she could call him Jack, but his title kept slipping out of her mouth when she addressed him and he certainly wasn’t going to mention it again. He lowered the newspaper onto the kitchen table next to his coffee and returned her smile.

“Have you seen Dot, Mr. Butler?” she asked through a mouthful of toast.

“I’m afraid she’s not coming in today, Jane.” Mr Butler frowned. “It’s her day off.”

“Damn!” Jane placed the comb on the table. “I keep forgetting she doesn’t live here anymore.”

“Anything I can help you with?” Mr Butler asked.

“No, I just…” Jane lifted her left hand, which was wrapped in a bandage. “I can’t do my hair with only one hand and I thought she might help me.”

The bandage was the result of a hand carelessly placed on a stovetop during a particularly raucous conversation with Cec and Bert in the kitchen. Jane had let Dot bandage her hand while she cursed her own stupidity, before the tomfoolery in the kitchen had resumed even louder than before.

Now Jane threw herself onto the kitchen chair and stared at her comb with a frown.

“Perhaps I could help?” Jack offered quietly.

Her head snapped up in surprise.

“I… uh, I can braid it, if that would help,” he elaborated. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mr. Butler smile as he left the kitchen.

“You can?” Jane asked, not quite able to hide her disbelief. “That would be very helpful. I can’t exactly go to class like this.” She gestured at her hair.

Jack stood up and walked to her side of the table. He gestured at the comb, asking permission. She nodded, although he could sense her scepticism.

He took the comb in one of his large hands and parted her hair, placing the one side over her shoulder to be out of the way before starting on the other side. Her hair was thick and all the knots had been combed out, so he didn’t have any trouble. His fingers skillfully twisted the strands of hair, muscle memory taking over to perform the familiar task.

He saw Jane’s shoulders relax slightly as she noticed that he knew what he was doing.

“How do you know how to do that?” she asked as he neared the end of the first braid.

“My sister taught me.” He handed her the finished braid over her shoulder. “Do you have ribbons handy?”

“I’ll go fetch some now,” Jane said, and then: “Is your sister older or younger?”

He brushed his hand through the loose hair on the other side before starting to braid it. “Older. She has daughters of her own now,” he said, hearing a smile slip into his own voice at the thought of his nieces.

Jane was silent for a few minutes, and Jack got lost in his own thoughts on his family, his fingers slowing in their work.

“It’s strange,” Jane interrupted his reverie, “You already know so much about me and my family, but I’ve never even asked about yours before.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, but the genuine curiosity in her voice warmed him. “Ask away, if you want to,” he told her.

“I’m trying to imagine what your sister’s like.”

“Much like me, although she has a knack with children I could never really replicate. She needs it, with her lot.”

“They sound like a handful,” Jane said, a wistful note in her voice.

“They are,” Jack replied warmly, and then gave her hair a playful tug. “It seems that I’m surrounded by wonderful, headstrong women wherever I go.”

A laugh escaped Jane, and she turned her head slightly to watch him from the corner of her eye. “Do you braid their hair sometimes? Your nieces, I mean.”

“I do. They’re always asking me to when I visit.”

“That’s lovely,” she said softly, before she lapsed into a thoughtful silence.

Jack nimbly twisted the strands of hair as he pondered the strange twist of fate that had brought Jane Ross into his life. It was not something he could have foreseen twenty years ago, but neither was the rest of his life. And, he thought as he neared the end of the braid, he wouldn't have it any other way.

He finished the braid and handed it to her over her shoulder. “Do you need help with the ribbons?”

She stood up and turned. “I’ll go see if I can manage.” She grinned at him and left the kitchen quickly. Jack returned to his chair.

A minute later, she stuck her head back into the kitchen. The two braids, now with ribbons at the ends, swung from side to side. “I managed!”

He was struck by how strange she looked, her childhood hairstyle forming an unusual combination with her fashionable university clothes. “I’m afraid the braids aren’t quite your style anymore, though,” he said, the corners of his mouth tugging into a smile.

She returned his smile broadly. “At least it’s out of my face now. I’ll find someone to help me with it between classes.”

She took a step into the kitchen. “Goodbye, Mr Butler,” she called in the direction of the pantry, before turning to face the table. “Have a good day, Jack.”

With a grin and a wink, she was out of the kitchen again.

Jack picked up the newspaper with a small smile that refused to leave his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Since Jane just disappears after season 2, I like the headcanon that she finishes school in Europe and returns to Melbourne to study.  
> Would she still wear her hair long enough to be braided by that age? Idk. For the purposes of this fic, she does XD


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